Tag: making friends

I look around everywhere and everyone I see is scrolling through Facebook or posting pics to Insta. At 21 years old, you would assume that I am the same way; and I was. I was overly obsessed with checking my Twitter timeline and constantly scrolling through Facebook and seeing the same things over and over. I will admit that I never got into Instagram much. The idea of having to post a picture every time you made a post was and still is annoying to me.

My favorite app ever created is Pinterest. So one day I was scrolling through ideas and saw a pin about a girl who did a “One Week Social Media Cleanse”. She talked about how much more time she had to do things she enjoyed and how much happier she seemed. I thought, “Why not?”

That day, I deleted the medias I used which were Twitter and Facebook. At first I was bored out of my mind. I was constantly staring at my cell phone thinking “Wtf am I supposed to do now?” Well that all became clear in the next weeks to come.

When I was little, I loved art. I loved to paint, draw, and do all sorts of crafts. With my new found time, I started all that up again. Painting slates, making bows, wreaths, using my Dremel. I’m always making something nowadays. I go outside so much more, sometimes not even to do anything, just to sit outside in the sun or walk in the woods. I’ve taken up mushroom hunting. I have an identification book I’ll take out and find different mushrooms in the woods. My knowledge of edible plants is now so much more advanced than before. My dog is happier too because I spend so much more time outdoors. Win win for us both.

When I stopped checking social media multiple times a day, and stopped being so wrapped up in and concerned with everyone else’s lives, I became more connected to my own. My relationship has never been better than it is right now. Adam and I have been together 6 years this October, and without needing to be on WiFi all the time, we have done so much more and I’ve been able to enjoy the things around me instead of the tiny screen in my pocket. Half of the time, I hardly have my phone even out or on me at all. Adam and I have been making trails at my mom’s house through the woods, clearing out the invasive Honeysuckle that’s taking over everything in sight, and making fires with our friends every chance we get. The photo on the left was taken last summer at Red Bud Outdoor National Race in Michigan. Our social lives have gotten so much better. I had thought that having Facebook kept me in the loop, but then I thought that if they really wanted me personally to know something, they would text or call me, and what do you know; they did. You truly find out who your friends are when you become unplugged from the internet. Your real friends are the ones that text or call wanting to hang out or tell you about something important that happened that day. I have come to the realization that I was only friends with certain people because I saw them every day at school. After high school, I grew up, but a lot of people I graduated didn’t seem to do the same, and that just wasn’t me.

Without needing to know everyone else’s business, my private life has been just that: private. My close friends and family know my business and that is all. I think that if you’re constantly feeling the need to know everyone else’s sh*t, then you need to step back and ask yourself why.

Now don’t get me wrong, the service is fantastic for people you still dearly love but never see. Whether they moved out-of-state or something else, this gives them the chance to show everyone their new house or newest grand baby without individually texting each person. Although it takes the personal feel away, it is convenient in a pinch.

Basically my point in a nutshell is that when you disconnect from the virtual and get back in touch with reality and the things around you, life becomes so much more exciting. Focus on your own lives, and the people you truly care for. Wasting your time complaining over something someone Tweeted about that may or probably wasn’t even directed at you is really just a downer. Your life is your own. You have the ability to control the things people know and do not know, what is public and what is private. In my Facebook days, I can remember people posting about how sick they felt that day and how they spent their day on the toilet! Why is that something that needs to be made public????? I am not saying that every person who uses social media is out for attention, but some people really make it seem that way. When you strive less for attention, and more for what makes YOU personally happy, your life becomes so much easier and so much more relaxing.

So here I am, challenging everyone to do a 1 Week Social Media Cleanse, and who knows, maybe your 1 week will turn into almost 2 years like mine did!

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